AGRICULTURE MINISTER Roger Clarke is urging Caribbean countries to focus on implementing strategic measures to protect the environment in order to reduce the effects of natural disasters.Speaking at a recent Caribbean Programme Meeting, hosted by the Inter-American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture (IICA), at the Jamaica Conference Centre in Kingston, Mr. Clarke said, "The Caribbean region's vulnerability to natural disasters... only serves to emphasise the need for such planning to focus on environmental protection, in order to protect the region's food supply."
He said the level of imports now required in Jamaica would result in a high importation bill, as it has become necessary at this point to import agricultural produce to make up for the shortfall in the sector, after the devastation of Hurricane Ivan on September 10.
"When we have a lot of products (produced locally) on our shelves, we are told that we can get things cheaper from abroad. Now that we have none, nothing is coming cheaper from abroad," he said.
NOTHING CHEAP
"It just goes to show that we should do everything to protect local agriculture and deal with our own production, because when we do not have, nothing cheap will come," the Minister added.
Mr. Clarke cited the 2003-2015 Agro-Plan of Action that was agreed on by the Heads of State of the Caribbean and the Americas. The plan, he said, focused on sustainable agricultural development in the region, which would serve to encourage and promote sustainable production systems that would protect the region's ecology, particularly its forest reserves.
Mr. Clarke referred to the devastating effects Hurricane Jeanne had on Haiti as a result of severe deforestation and urged countries of the Caribbean to support sustainable environmental initiatives.
According to him, the protection of the environment was a vehicle, which could impact poverty alleviation, while facilitating the development of rural communities.
